Businessman Martin Adams was on his way to get the 4.13pm service to London when police cordoned off half of the station.

The 31-year-old, who had been returning from a weekend in the French capital with friends, told the Press Association: “The police told us that there would be a controlled explosion and about 10 minutes later there was, nobody panicked and everybody just got about lining up for their trains.

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“A lot of people missed the 4.13pm as a result but Eurostar placed people on later trains.

“My wife heard someone say in the security line that it was a tourist trying to bring a part of an old WWII bomb back through customs.

“This wasn’t confirmed to us by Eurostar or security who just referred to ‘security issues’ when announcing delays.”